Theodore Dalrymple:

Intellectuals propounded the idea that man should be freed from the shackles of social convention and self-control, and the government, without any demand from below, enacted laws that promoted unrestrained behavior and created a welfare system that protected people from some of its economic consequences. When the barriers to evil are brought down, it flourishes; and never again will I be tempted to believe in the fundamental goodness of man, or that evil is something exceptional or alien to human nature....

And when my mother asks me whether I am not in danger of letting my personal experience embitter me or cause me to look at the world through bile-colored spectacles, I ask her why she thinks that she, in common with all old people in Britain today, feels the need to be indoors by sundown or face the consequences, and why this should be the case in a country that within living memory was law-abiding and safe? .... In 1921, the year of my mother's birth, there was one crime recorded for every 370 inhabitants of England and Wales; 80 years later, it was one for every ten inhabitants. There has been a 12-fold increase since 1941 and an even greater increase in crimes of violence.

As I mentioned here and here, the current crime rate in the England and Wales is measured at 9,927 per 100,000 residents last year. The US has 4,161.

According to Dalrymple's quote above, it was 1/370, or 270 per 100,000 in 1921. Dalyrmple says this is a 12-fold increase in crime, but it looks to me like 36-fold, i.e. 36 times as much crime. Either way, and even accounting for some differences in reporting, it's still clearly appalling.

And we Americans want to look to the UK and Europe as a pattern for how we should structure our society? Is there something in the water?

Perhaps we should look closely at British society as it was in 1921.